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About Me

I am a writer, editor, reviewer and dance teacher based in Perth, Western Australia.
You might enjoy my books - The Dagger of Dresnia, the first book of the Talismans Trilogy, is available at all good online book shops. Book two, The Cloak of Challiver, will be available again shortly. Book three, The Seer of Syland, is in preparation.
I trained in piano and singing at the NSW Conservatorium of Music. I also trained in dance (Scully-Borovansky, WAAPA) and drama (NIDA).
Since 1987 I have been writing reviews of performances in all genres for a variety of publications, including Music Maker, ArtsWest, Dance Australia, The Australian and others. Now semi-retired, I still write occasionally for the ArtsHub website, and I still teach dance at Trinity School for Seniors, an outreach program of the Uniting Church in Perth.

My Web Site

My books

The first novel of my trilogy, The Talismans, is available as an e-book from Smashwords, Amazon and other online sellers. I do have paperbacks of The Dagger of Dresnia at the low price of $AU25 including postage within Australia. I also have a short story, 'La Belle Dame', in print - see Mythic Resonance below.
Book two of the trilogy, The Cloak of Challiver, will be available again shortly.
The best way to contact me is via Facebook!

Buy The Talismans

The first two books of The Talismans trilogy were published by Satalyte Publications, which, sadly, has gone out of business. Book one, The Dagger of Dresnia, is up on the usual bookselling web sites as an e-book, and I have a few hard copies to sell to those who prefer Real Paper. Book Two, The Cloak of Challiver, will be available soon.
The easiest way to contact me is via Facebook.

The Dagger of Dresnia

Want a copy? Contact me at satimafn(at)gmail.com

The Cloak of Challiver

Available again as an ebook soon!

Mythic Resonance

Buy Mythic Resonance

Mythic Resonance is an excellent anthology that includes my short story 'La Belle Dame', together with great stories from Alan Baxter, Donna Maree Hanson, Sue Burstynski, Nike Sulway and nine more fantastic authors! Just $US3.99 from Amazon.
Got a Kindle? Check out Mythic Resonance.

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This is another review that first appeared on the late lamented Specusphere, this one in cahoots with my old crit buddy Ian Banks - not the Scottish one, the Western Australian one who only has one i.

Best Served Cold takes place a few years after Abercrombie’s
breakout trilogy, The First Law. It involves a few subsidiary characters
and features one or two memorable cameos from people we got to know in that
series, but it is a stand-alone volume.

It is the story of Monza Murcatto, a mercenary
captain who has schemed her way to the top of her profession and into the
confidences of her employer, Duke Orso, who has been using her to expand his
interests. Unfortunately, though, she appears to be too popular with the masses
for Orso, so he arranges to have her and her brother murdered. Monza survives
the murder attempt and plots avenge her brother’s death by killing all the men
who took part.

She begins by recruiting agents to her cause and
assembles a wild bunch indeed. There’s the disaffected Northman, Caul Shivers,
who just wants to be better than he is; Friendly, the convict savant who loves
numbers; Morveer the poisoner and his assistant, Day; and several other
colourful and well-drawn characters.

The story doesn’t follow the epic pattern
established in The First Law but plays out more like a western, with Monza
assembling her team, seeking out information, uncovering a wider scheme in
which her revenge is only one factor in a greater fight, and then building to a
bloody and unbelievable climax in which it seems that she may have taken on a
job that even her ruthless nature cannot stomach.

This is great read: it sprawls across countries and
cultures, with memorable characters and some great scenes and, as expected with
Abercrombie, fantastic dialogue. He also raises a lot of questions about the
nature of revenge and of nobility which make this quite a meaty story. In many
ways it’s an easier read than the First Law Trilogy, because there in only one
plot and one set of characters who interact in various ways as they swap
allegiance or interact with minor characters.

All this more than makes up for the shortcomings of
this novel, such as they are. Fans of The First Law will enjoy meeting
some old friends and revisiting some places around the Circle and Azure Seas.
Mention is made of the greater, shadowy conflict that served as the basis for
the denouement of that earlier series, but newcomers may find it all a little
confusing when the story delves into that realm if they haven’t either read the
earlier books. Also, some of the scenes seem a little too over-the-top when you
play them on the large-screen television inside your skull. There is one in
which the team has to cross from one tall building to another by hitching along
by clinging under a rope with hands and feet. The resultant misadventures, both
real and imagined, would make either a terrifying dark horror movie or a
screamingly funny slapstick, depending on how it was played.

Abercrombie has
also, perhaps, gone overboard with the sex, violence and bad language: more
than one reader has given up on Best
Served Cold because of these. In the earlier trilogy these elements fitted
seamlessly into the plot: in this book they sometimes appear gratuitous. It
could well be, also, that some readers will be annoyed by the little tricks
Abercrombie plays, especially in the last third of the book. He leads us to
believe certain things are happening or have happened, and then a few chapters
later more or less says 'Hah! Fooled you!'

But these are small flaws when put against what is
on offer here: a revenge thriller with great characters and snarky dialogue. If
you enjoyed Abercrombie’s earlier books, you will find much to savour here. If
you’ve also enjoyed The Good, the Bad And the Ugly and any kind of
vengeance story in which the payoff may be more than the characters are willing
to come at, you will have a ball with this.